Set up and sell advertising space

Advertising lives with the community's commercial tools under Admin → Advertising. It is included from the Flying plan by default; a community-specific feature override can also grant access. If the page shows an upgrade gate, the feature is not enabled for that community yet.

If the plan includes Advertising but it is missing from the sidebar, open Admin → Settings → Modules and restore the module to the community's navigation.

Before taking an advertiser's payment, connect the community's bank account under Admin → Integrations → PayStack. JollyBee processes the invoice through the platform account, splits the platform commission at payment time and settles the community's net share to its connected subaccount.

1. Define the inventory you sell

Open Ad Inventory and create one placement for each product on your rate card.

• Name — the human-facing product name, such as Event weekend sponsor or Member overview tile. Businesses see this while browsing.
• Type — the real surface where it renders. This is the important technical choice; changing the name does not change where an ad appears.
• Dimensions — the artwork size you want supplied. Choosing a type fills the recommended size when one exists. The field stays editable and is not an upload rule.
• Rate model — Flat, Per 1,000 views (CPM), or Per month.
• Rate — the amount shown to businesses in the community's currency.
• Description — keep internal rate-card context about where it appears, who sees it, what period is included and any approval conditions. This text is not currently shown to businesses in Discover communities.

An active placement is immediately visible under Discover communities. Businesses awaiting verification can browse it; verified businesses can book it. Archive the placement when it is not for sale. Archiving also makes campaigns attached to it ineligible to serve, so use Pause on a campaign instead when only one advertiser needs to stop.

Creative-based placement types are serving pools. If you create two active placements with the same type, eligible creatives booked against both can rotate in the same on-page slot. Use separate records of the same type only when that shared rotation is intentional, for example two differently priced packages feeding the same banner position. Sponsored map pins are the exception: they display eligible businesses rather than using weighted creative rotation.

There is no automatic exclusivity calendar. JollyBee allows overlapping bookings, so check the campaign dates yourself before promising an exclusive sponsorship and pause any campaign that must not share the rotation.

See Advertising creative sizes and specifications for every placement type and its extra setup.

2. Choose a pricing model

The rate model describes how you quote the space:

• Flat — one agreed amount for the flight or sponsorship package.
• Per 1,000 views (CPM) — a rate expressed per thousand impressions.
• Per month — a monthly rate on the rate card.

At present these are quote labels, not automatic billing calculators. JollyBee does not multiply CPM by delivered impressions, prorate a partial month or raise recurring monthly invoices. When you create an invoice, it uses the campaign's Budget when that is greater than zero; otherwise it uses the Agreed rate. Review those values before invoicing and raise each billing period deliberately.

Budget does not pace delivery or stop serving at an impression or spend threshold. In the current module it is a billing amount.

Use the placement description for internal rate-card context, but repeat every buyer-facing term in the negotiation message: the dates, estimated reach, number of sends, whether artwork changes are included and what happens if an event is cancelled. Businesses do not currently see the placement description in Discover communities.

3. Receive or create a campaign

A verified business books an active placement in its portal. The campaign arrives as Proposed, and the community's owners and admins are notified.

For a sponsor arranged by phone, email or an existing relationship, open Campaigns and create it yourself. Choose external advertiser when there is no registered business account, then enter the advertiser name, contact email, placement, rate, dates and objective. It starts as Draft.

Use the campaign's negotiation panel to keep the discussion with the record:

• Send a message and an optional counter-rate.
• Use Log advertiser reply for an offline reply so the history stays complete.
• Accept the correct proposed rate while the campaign is still Draft, Proposed or Negotiating.
• Decline the campaign if the audience, dates or creative are not appropriate.

Accepting an offered rate updates the campaign's agreed rate and moves it to Accepted. Check that the placement and flight dates still match what was agreed.

4. Review and prepare the creative

The business can upload an image or text creative from its campaign page. A community admin can also add or edit creatives inside the campaign.

Before launch, check:

• The artwork uses the placement's aspect ratio and remains readable on a phone.
• The advertiser name and offer are accurate.
• The headline provides useful alternative text for an image on web, widget and email surfaces.
• The call to action is honest and matches the destination.
• The target is a complete http:// or https:// URL and opens successfully.
• At least one creative is Active; pause rejected or old variations. A sponsored map pin may instead use the linked business website without a creative.

For placements other than sponsored map pins, use Weight to control rotation between several active variations. Keep it at 1 for an even test, or give a preferred creative a larger relative share. Map pins do not use creative weights.

5. Approve and launch

Move the campaign through the status controls deliberately:

1. Mark a direct Draft as Proposed when the advertiser has the offer.
2. Use Negotiating while the rate or terms are open.
3. Choose Accept when they are agreed.
4. Choose Schedule to record a future launch, or Go live to make it Active.
5. If you used Scheduled, return at launch time and choose Go live. The start date prevents early serving but does not activate the campaign for you.
6. Use Pause for a temporary stop and Complete when the flight is finished.

An Active campaign with a future start date waits until that date. An Active campaign past its end date stops being selected, although its status remains Active until you complete it.

6. Invoice and collect payment

Once a campaign has been accepted, create its invoice from the campaign page. Settlement lists Accepted, Scheduled, Active and Completed campaigns that are ready to bill; a Paused campaign can still be invoiced from its own detail page.

• The amount is Budget when Budget is greater than zero; otherwise it is Agreed rate.
• An optional advertising voucher can apply a percentage, fixed amount or full discount.
• The platform fee is the community's configured commission, not an amount entered by an owner.
• A draft invoice becomes Sent when its PayStack payment link is created.
• A linked business advertiser can pay from the campaign or its Billing page.
• A successful payment marks the invoice and campaign paid and records the community's net share in payouts.

A fully discounted invoice has no PayStack charge; use Activate — free to mark that invoice paid. Payment status still does not replace the separate Go live campaign action.

Manual advertisers do not receive business-portal notifications. If you invoice one, use the invoice's payment link in the relationship you already manage and keep the contact email correct.

7. Measure and close the flight

Use Analytics for the last 30 days of impressions, clicks and CTR by campaign. Reporting is aggregated at campaign level, not split by creative variation, so use it to compare campaigns and overall flight performance rather than to claim a winning variation.

Use Settlement to reconcile gross paid, platform fees, the community's net and outstanding invoices. When the flight is finished, choose Complete rather than archiving the placement. That stops the campaign while preserving its history and keeping the placement available; inventory is not reserved exclusively unless you manage the dates and overlapping campaigns yourself.